An Oxygen fitness magazine once said, "A good run can seperate a good day from a bad day" and I would have to agree. This past weekend was a draining one for me, it used up a lot of my energy, leaving me feeling low of self concept (self esteem and self confidence) and having negative thoughts toward my body image. Some days the hardest thing to do is to make it to the gym, I just don’t feel like it, but somehow I always make it. Maybe because in the back of my mind I know that after a good workout I always feel better.
Exercise is my release, over the last couple years whenever I am angry, stressed or frustrated all I need is find a sweet trail and I’ll go run the shit out of it and burn off of the negative energy. I’ve had some of my best workouts on days that I didn’t know if I could perform at all. Sundays day are my run days and the day I add an extra mile. This past Sunday I wasn’t sure if I’d even make 5 miles but I blasted my music, focused on my goal and how good I felt in the moment and made it to 9. When I finished it felt so good to achieve personal goal and it faded the negative energy I had started with.
Anyone else had experiences like this? Do you use your training as a stress release, to cheer you up or to re-energize you when your feeling blah.
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Hey Anisa,
ReplyDeleteI COMPLETELY agree when you wrote, "a good run can separate a good day from a bad day." That sentence describes me! So you can imagine how imperative it is for me to get my runs in.
Yes, this type of experience has happened to me. The external /uncontrollable factor in my situation would have to be the slushy snow on the ground and a lovely muscle cramp occurring on my peroneus longus (I must have been over-striding). I was wearing my yak trax on my runners to prevent slipping, but that didn’t prevent the slushy wetness from getting into my runner. Within 10 minutes into my run --both runners, socks, and feet were SOAKED! And since it was snow, they were FREEZING! Now, normally I would just suck it up and continue with my run. But my goal was to be out there for 3 hours, a 16 mile run. I was also aware of the effects of frostbite on my toes, which wouldn’t be fun.
The internal/controllable factor? Well, the only thing at that point that I could control was my mind. Luckily when the weather is like this, I bring an extra pair of socks, so I quickly changed them (which only made a 10% difference to that soaked feeling) and continued on my way. My muscle was still cramped, but I had to mentally stop giving it attention. I often used mantras to help me get through such hard times, such as, “I’m fit. I’m fast. I’m strong.” Other tools I use are to envision myself how I’d feel going home now versus going home after my run. Like you said before, a run effects my entire day!
Marathon training isn’t easy, but that’s what I love about it. I love the facing such challenges with an attitude of “BRING IT!!” Our mind is a powerful tool, and it takes even more power to know how to use it. :) Happy training.
~Amy
I think your emotions really can get tied up with your physical energy in general. For a long time, I was doing a job I didn't really like, living in a new place away from all of my friends, and just generally feeling unmotivated about life. I found that it was really hard to force myself to go to the gym, and then really hard to push myself hard enough once I was there. Then, I moved to BC to take a new job, which I love, and I immediately made awesome friends who were fun to hang out with and always involved in something interesting. I thought I would have less motivation to work out because I was so much busier, but I actually found that it was the opposite. I was way more motivated, the workouts went by faster, and I didn't mind them nearly as much. In terms of emotions like frustration and anger and their relationship to the workout process, I did have an experience once, shortly after I moved to BC, where I was at the gym and I was thinking about a family frustration I was having. My parents moved in with my husband and I after our baby was born, so that they could help us take care of her, and it was really hard for everybody to live together. When I moved to BC, I felt like they were all wanting me to keep being the moderator of the family, even though I was 3000 miles away, and I couldn't understand why talking to my family, which should be the highlight of my day, was always such an unhappy experience. I found that as I was feeling upset about this while working out, I was pushing my body harder, as if the anger and frustration were driving me and I was trying to get these feelings out of me. This was really the only time I've experienced this, though, because I'm a really chilled out person, and I don't get mad or stressed very often, so usually I'm just thinking about rainbows when I work out. ;)
ReplyDeleteFaye commented March 24
ReplyDeleteI throw the headphones in and go out for a run, sprint intervals or hit up the dance studio and get lost in it for a couple hours. I don’t feel better about it after but I’ve gotten rid of the frustration and am more positive about the situation.